Antonio González Velázquez Madrid 1723 - 1794

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Description

Antonio González Velázquez
Tullia driving her chariot over her father's body
signed and dated lower right: An^oBelazquez/ 1788
and with painted inventory number 437 lower left
oil on canvas, unlined, in its original carved and gilt wood frame

Provenance

Acquired by a forebear of the present owner in Spain at the beginning of the last century, and thence by descent.

Catalogue Note

The subject is taken from Livy 1:48. Tullia was the daughter of Servius Tullius, a 6th century king of Rome, who she helped overthrow in order to place her own husband Tarquin the Proud upon the throne. Servius Tullius was assassinated and thrown from the Senate into the street, where his body was run over by his daughter in her haste to reach her husband. The street was called the Vicus Sceleratus - the accursed street - in memory of her crime.

Antonio González Velázquez, was trained in Madrid and then in Rome from 1746 to 1752 where he studied under Corrado Giaquinto, whose influence in his development was to be decisive. After his return to Spain he was appopinted court painter in Madrid in 1757 and Director of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes in 1785. Although a late work, this beautifully preserved canvas displays all the freshness and brilliance of execution of his Italian training.